That said, the judgment here is that the unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty called against Vanderbilt for excessive celebration Saturday in its 49-42 double-overtime loss to Florida was about as bad as it gets.

You see a call like that, and you can't help but think what Vanderbilt fans have been saying for years: Maybe there is some built-in mechanism, some underlying force that keeps the Commodores from ever getting over the hump in the Southeastern Conference.